Best Practices

Upcoming Entrepreneurship and Economic Development Conferences

Published Aug 18, 2017
by Sarah Mote

If there’s one thing we love doing, it’s learning how to build better entrepreneurial ecosystems and how other communities are helping tell the story of the economic impact of entrepreneurs—in a single phrase, we love to learn and share how to do what we do better.

And that’s why we attend, and speak at, as many conferences as we can on entrepreneurial ecosystems and economic development. It is the perfect place to learn and have deep-dive conversations, face to face, with the people who are supporting entrepreneurs, on the ground and in their communities.

Below are conferences we will be speaking at, attending or watching this year. Come find us, we'd love to talk.

(Better yet, email us so we can connect while we are in town or join our newsletter to read what insights we pulled from these conferences.)

SEDC is the oldest and largest regional economic development organization in North America. Our own Dara Macan is attending and is looking forward to learning about the latest trends in traditional economic development and connecting with economic developers from the 18 states in the southeast.

Our partners Jim Baxendale of Whiteboard2Boardroom and Jeff Shackelford of Digital Sandbox will be attending along with Maria Meyers. SSTI’s annual conference engages those involved in the innovation economy in a dynamic exploration of the advances and challenges facing our community.

IEDC is the world’s largest conference for economic developers and will be taking place outside of the United States for the first time ever in Toronto. Dara and our marketing director Sarah Mote will be on hand to learn more about “how to connect, collaborate and create at the global level to contribute to the transformation of local, state and regional economies.”

NEDA connects all types of economic developers from 11 states in the Northeast and the District of Columbia. One track we’re particularly interested in: “Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Small Towns: Lessons from Appalachia.”

This conference is necessary for any economic developer working in a rural community looking for strategies to sustain the local ecosystem. “Topics include real-life economic development success stories and out-of-the-box thinking strategies sure to offer creative solutions to common industry challenges.” Read our founder Maria Meyer’s article tackling major myths of rural entrepreneurship and what economic developers can do to lower the barrier of entry for entrepreneurship.

This second annual summit is “at the forefront of boosting economic opportunity in under-networked communities, through inclusive entrepreneurship.” City leaders, philanthropists, entrepreneurial support organizations and entrepreneurs are all invited to attend.

From Seattle to San Juan, SourceLink friends and affiliates are all committed to strengthening local economies, growing opportunities and championing entrepreneurship. Join us—and let us connect you to entrepreneurial champions who are helping make entrepreneurship easier for everyone, everywhere.

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Sarah Mote is the marketing director at SourceLink. Sarah brings her experience as an entrepreneur, storyteller and content strategist to help shape the story of SourceLink and that of our affiliate communities.

Research & Toolkits

Interested in learning more? Reach out to Dara Macan and tell us what you are excited about in your community; we'd love to learn from your expertise and feature you as one of our forward-thinking leaders in our emerging industry.

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Looking for a really great read?Go Beyond Collisions and grab your free chapter on measurement or read our full playbook on how leaders like you are shaping the future of economic development through entrepreneurship.